Taken Earlier This Month

We've had these pictures on our camera for awhile and finally pulled them off tonight. These were taken the weekend we picked up the Christmas tree. The same tree I had to take down the week prior to Christmas before we headed out of town. Let me tell you how much of a Grinch I must have looked dragging that tree down our alley into the dumpster in mid December.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20071201ChristmasTree

Black and White Christmas

A rare picture of both Kelly and I with Ashley taken just a few minutes ago. Hope everyone is doing well.

More Christmas Pictures

My brother Lee posted more pictures from this past weekend. Click here to view these pictures.

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you had a great holiday and enjoyed the company of your families. TheStrausses.com spent Christmas in Cuyahoga Falls and had a surprisingly relaxing week.

We arrived early in the week and I was fortunate to be able to work from home while Kelly was able to enjoy the woods/scenery/solitude with Ashley. It was a much needed break from the city.

Here are some highlights:

• Bought a pretty slick bb gun w/ scope and had some shooting games with my brothers (yes, I am almost 30 years old)
• Used my old climbing rope and made a tree swing over a ravine
  
• Built a few fires
  
• Went trudging through the woods/rivers around my parents house
  
• Went to the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State NBA basketball game and sat in a private suite
• A flock of turkeys literally attacked our bedroom door today but by the time I grabbed the bb gun they had flown away
• Played poker with my brothers, dad and grandfather
• Went climbing with Kelly for the first time in a LONG time and found out how out of shape I actually was
• Went swimming with Ashley
• Went on a long hike through the woods with the entire family
• Had a cookie decorating contest with everyone (somehow a "sunny side up egg" cookie won)
  

Here are some pictures that my mom took on her camera over the week: http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20071225ChristmasInCuyahogaFalls. My brother Lee is in the process of uploading and posting pictures he/I took using his camera. I'll post a link to his Picasa account as soon as they are up.

Ashley's First Christmas Tree and Snow

Katie and Tom came over yesterday to help us pick out and decorate Ashley's first Christmas tree. We had our first snow of the year too which provided for quite the festive day. Below is a video recapping our adventure: (direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_69MieI6SI).